<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The haunted house by kazarina</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300241">The haunted house</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazarina/pseuds/kazarina'>kazarina</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Established Relationship, Halloween, M/M, Poor Laurent, Pranks, not edited at all sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:08:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,576</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27300241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazarina/pseuds/kazarina</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“What? You’re scared of it?” Damen laughed, delight suffusing his face. “The great Laurent de—”</p><p>“I am <i>not</i> scared of a stupid haunted house.” Laurent gave his boyfriend his best irritated glare. God knows that Damen deserved it.</p><p>“Then let’s go,” Damen said, “It’s Halloween, we got to do something.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The haunted house</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What? You’re scared of it?” Damen laughed, delight suffusing his face. “The great Laurent de—”</p><p>“I am <i>not</i> scared of a stupid haunted house.” Laurent gave his boyfriend his best irritated glare. God knows that Damen deserved it.</p><p>“Then let’s go,” Damen said, “It’s Halloween, we got to do something.”</p><p>“We already are doing something,” Laurent said. Auguste was just as childish as Damen – which was probably why they were best friends – and had decided to hold the biggest Halloween party at his house tonight. This was all very fine, but why did <i>Laurent</i> have to go. Laurent could just stay at home, and hang out with a very nice book by himself. It wasn’t like he was stopping Damen from going out and having fun. But then, Damen had pleaded and said it wasn’t as fun if Laurent wasn’t there, and besides, he already got them matching outfits (no, Laurent did not want to know what kind of dumb matching outfits Damen had bought). Don’t make me go by myself, Damen whined. To make matters worst, Nicaise, his adopted brother, had called him up as well, saying he really wanted to hang out with all his brothers for once. Please Laurent, don’t be a spoilsport, he said. That was how Laurent ended up agreeing, but seriously, surely that was all he was required to do for Halloween? </p><p>“Ah well,” Damen shrugged. “I knew you were scared of it. It’s okay, Laurent, you could have said so.”</p><p>“<i>Please</i>,” Laurent sent him a withering stare. “Don’t be daft.”</p><p>“Then let’s go. I got free tickets!” Damen looked as excited as a puppy who had just been give free reign of the outdoors for the first time. Laurent sighed. He really just wanted to chill for a bit, at least on a weekend. But Damen looked like he really wanted to go. This haunted house thing can’t be that bad, right?</p>
<p></p><div>
  <p>*</p>
</div><p>“Why is it so fucking dark?” Laurent growled, “Did they run out of electricity or something?”</p><p>“It’s good!” Damen said approvingly. “It’s got the right atmosphere.”</p><p>Laurent peered in the door, but he couldn’t see very much beyond the next ten steps or so. There was some furniture that had been covered up with white cloths, and the floor was tiled in a hideous old-fashioned green. It looked like there was a pool of red liquid disappearing in the darkness to the left.</p><p>“That is so fucking obvious. What kind of shitty haunted house is this?”</p><p>“Come on, let’s go.” Damen tugged on Laurent’s hand. “I’ll use the light from my phone.” </p><p>The door slammed shut behind them, but they weren’t plunged into darkness thanks to Damen’s phone. They explored the front room, making sure to avoid stepping on each puddle of fake blood. Laurent had to roll his eyes over the giant fake spiders. It was all so –</p><p>A blast of warm air blew over the back of Laurent’s neck. He jumped and spun around, grabbing Damen’s arm with both his hands. </p><p>“Oh!” Damen shone the light upwards. “That’s pretty neat.” He said, stepping closer so he could take a look. “They got a pipe thing to drop down, probably only after we stepped over here.” He said, pointing to a spot on the floor.</p><p>“I <i>know</i> how that works,” Laurent said, releasing Damen’s arm at once. He could still feel the blood pumping in his chest. Stupid, stupid thing. It was petty perhaps, but Laurent slapped his hand at the plastic hard.</p><p>“Oh dear, I hope the house survives you,” Damen said, chuckling.</p><p>At the end of the room was a short set of steps that led into a corridor. It was the only way to move on, so there they went. </p><p>“I’ll go first. Hold my hand,” Damen said, walking in front. Damen shone the light at his feet so that Laurent could see the steps. It looked like the floor here had been polished white. It was practically glowing. </p><p>Three short steps and they were now in the corridor. Apparently, all you were supposed to do here was admire the paintings. It was all blood and gore, faces twisted into grotesque fashions, and hell depicted in creative ways. Laurent learnt that there were, many, many ways to be tortured for eternity. Yay! </p><p>“There’s something on the floor,” Laurent said. He thought he felt something hit his shoe. Damen pointed the light at the floor, shining it up and down the corridor, but neither of them could see anything.</p><p>“Maybe it’s a cockroach,” Damen said, grinning, nudging Laurent with his shoulder. </p><p>“Don’t.” </p><p>“Or a mouse.” </p><p>“Stop it.” Laurent elbowed Damen hard. </p><p>“Ow, okay,” Damen said, “It’s nothing babe, I’m sure. Let’s go see what else is there.” He leaned over to give Laurent a quick kiss, which did make Laurent feel better. He hated anything that ran over his – </p><p>“AHHH!” Laurent screamed. A lot of something ran over both of Laurent’s shoes. He reacted instantly, grabbing on to Damen’s shoulders and heaving his feet off the ground. “GET THEM OFF ME! FUCK FUCK FUCK!” He yelled into Damen’s neck. </p><p>“It’s okay, it’s okay, babe!” Laurent heard Damen say. Damen had one arm around Laurent, supporting his weight and was rubbing his back soothingly. </p><p>“It’s just marbles. Look! It’s just marbles,” Damen said.</p><p>“Don’t you dare lie to me! I know what marbles sound like.” Laurent's hands had grabbed into fistfuls of Damen’s shirt, and he clutched them even tighter.</p><p>“They are, they are! They just got like some kind of smooth covering to muffle the noise."</p><p>Laurent cracked an eye open and looked to where Damen was shining the light. Oh. The ground was full of little grey balls. Furry grey balls. He felt very stupid all of a sudden. Damen set him down on the ground, gently. “You okay?” he said, brushing Laurent’s hair into place. He actually looked a little worried about Laurent, which was sweet. </p><p>“If you breathe a single word of this –” Laurent began. </p><p>Damen’s worried expression eased away, and he started smiling, “Yes, yes I know.” He handed the phone to Laurent, “Here, why don’t you hold the light. I’ll be the one clinging on to you now.” </p><p>“I did not cling,” Laurent replied primly, receiving over the phone. </p><p>“Not at all, babe, you did not,” Damen said, but Laurent could tell he was trying not to laugh. He rolled his eyes at Damen, and was irrationally annoyed that it was too dark to have the desired effect.</p><p>Having control of the light turned out to be quite beneficial. This was why Lady Liberty carried the torch, right? There were a few more scares along the way, but once Laurent saw that they were harmless, he didn’t mind them so much anymore. The giant Jack-in-the-box thing did make him jump again with the screechy noise though, and it had dared to come swinging at him, so he reacted the only way he could think of. He swung back at it. He may have broken the springs. Maybe. Served them right. </p><p>Finally, they came to a door that had one of those green exit signs hanging above it. This was the end. </p><p>“Ready?” Damen said. </p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>They opened the door to the bright afternoon sun. A breeze rushed into Laurent’s face, warm and instantly relaxing. Laurent really wouldn’t mind some ice-cream now. Maybe they could go sit by the dock and have ice cream and chocolate, and iced soda. It was a perfect day for that, and it would make up for having to go to that dumb Halloween party tonight.</p><p>Just as the door shut behind them, a voice, unmistakably belonging to a young child, whispered, “Goodbye Laurent.”</p><p>“What was that?” Laurent froze, feeling an iciness strike directly into his heart. </p><p>“I heard that,” Damen said, looking equally shocked.</p><p>“Did you give anyone my name?” Laurent demanded. </p><p>“No! No I swear I didn’t!” </p><p>The cold spread all the way through Laurent's body, tingling down along his arms. They stared at each other. Laurent swallowed hard. His heart was pounding loud in his ears.</p><p>“Let’s go,” Laurent said, a barely audible whisper.</p><p>Damen nodded vigorously. </p><p>They ran all the way back to the car. </p><p>“Drive!” Laurent said. He had not seen Damen move so quick before in all the years they were dating. </p><p>Now that Laurent was far away from that place, he felt calmer and his head was clearer. It suddenly dawned on him. “Where did you get the tickets?” he asked.</p><p>“Oh!” Damen’s eyes widened, coming to the same realisation, and then he frowned. “Auguste gave them to me yesterday at lunch.” </p><p>“Auguste wouldn’t do that to me,” Laurent said firmly. Auguste was a joker, but he had doted on Laurent since he was a child. Auguste would be the first person to seek revenge on anyone who scared Laurent like this.</p><p>“No, it’s not Auguste!” Damen said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment. “He said he got them from someone else, and couldn’t make it.”</p><p>Things were starting to make sense now. There weren’t that many people in the world who both got a kick out of pranking Laurent, and had the access to do so. “No, I know who he got it from. And I am going to <i>murder</i> him tonight.” </p><p>As if right on cue, Laurent’s phone chimed with a single message. </p><p>
  <i>Nicaise (14:48): Hey! How was the haunted house ride? :) </i>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Damen dressed up as a witch, and gave Laurent the black cat costume, because Laurent was "fussy and had the evilest eye". Laurent is not having the best day.</p><p>Happy Halloween!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>